Device for removing plastic buttons



April 17, 1956 G. J. EGETH 2,741,841

DEVICE FOR REMOVING PLASTIC BUTTONS Filed Jan. 6, 1954 i a! 40 I ll 1| 26 '1 :I :i 25 39 {i ,1

IN VEN TOR.

111: 5 65 /265 -J.' EGETH GUN United States Patent O DEVICE FOR REMOVING PLASTIC BUTTONS George J. Egeth, Hillside, N. J.

Application January 6, 1954, Serial No. 402,503

2 Claims. (Cl. 330-135) This invention relates to a device for removing buttons from garments in the tailoring trade and especially for removing plastic and ornamental buttons from garments prior to being laundered, or dry cleaned.

Because of the physical properties of many plastic and ornamental buttons, they must be removed from the garment before the garment is dry cleaned or laundered. At present, the buttons are removed with known shears or safety razor blades and sometimes with injury to the garment but in any event with the ever present possibility of injury to the garment and even to the operator.

It is an object of the instant invention to provide a device that will remove buttons from a garment without injury thereto.

Another object is to provide a device of the type described that will hold the buttons attached to the garment at the most desirable angle for removal.

A further object is to provide a device that will not only remove the buttons but will also gather the removed buttons for subsequent indentification with the proper garment.

Other objects of the instant invention will become apparent in the course of the following specification.

In the attainment of the aforesaid objectives, subject device is constituted of a guard substantially in the shape of a segment of a circle formed between two radially directed lines and outer and inner arcuate lines. The edge of the segment along one radially directed line and the inner arcuate line are turned upwardly to form at least a portion of a receptacle in which the buttons are gathered after being removed. An especially designed slot inwardly directed from the outer arcuate line firmly holds the thread securing the button to the garment under tension to aid in the removal operation. A handle member is rearwardly directed from the upwardly turned edges. Slidable over the guard on the sides of the upwardly turned edges is a knife blade actuated by a second handle member pivotally secured to the first handle member. Spring tension means automatically returns the knife blade after each removal operation to a position suitable to the following operation. Stops are provided for limiting the pivotal movement of the handle members to prevent injury to and to maintain the knife blade on the guard.

The invention will appear more clearly from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings showing by way of example a preferred embodiment of the inventive concept.

In the drawings:

Figure l is a plan view of the device constructed in accordance with the principles of this invention;

Figure 2 is a side view of the device shown in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a sectional view along the line 3-3 of Figure 1;

Figure 4 is a sectional view along Figure l; and

Figure 5 is a sectional view along Figure 1.

the line 4-4 of the line 5-5 of Patented Apr. 17, 1956 Referring now in greater detail to the preferred embodiment of the device shown in Figures 1-5 where like reference numerals indicate like parts reference numeral 10 indicates the device.

The device 10 is constituted in part of a guard 11 and a knife blade 12.

The guard 11 is substantially in the form of a segment of a circle formed by the radially directed edges 13, 14 (Fig. 1) between the outer arcuate edge 15 and the inner arcuate edge 16. The guard 11 is turned upwardly along the radially directed edge 13 to form an upstanding surface portion 17 (Figs. 2 and 4) and is further turned upwardly along the arcuate edge 16 to substantially the height of the surface portion 17 to form another upstanding surface portion 18 (Fig. 2) which, as later shown, together form two sides of a receptacle in which the buttons are gathered after removal. If desired, the upstanding surface portion 17 may be turned outwardly at the top to aid in the attachment of the later described handle member 26. A slot 19 is inwardly directed from the outer arcuate edge 15 and extended toward the previously mentioned upstanding surface portion 17. The slot 19 is also inwardly tapered.

The knife blade 12 is slidable over the top surface of the guard 11 and has a cutting edge 22 (Figs. 1 and ,3) located on the side of the edge 21 of the slot 19 when the device is in the open position shown in Fig. 1. The inner end 23 (Fig. 2) of the knife blade 12 is turned upwardly substantially to the top of the upstanding surface portion 17 and thence rearwardly along the line 24 for attachment to the later described handle member 25.

Rearwardly extended from the top of the upstanding surface portion 17 of the guard 11 is the handle member 26 constituted of the weight arm 27 and the power arm 28. Any suitable means, such as welding, may be used for the attachment.

Rearwardly extended from the rearwardly extended portion of the knife blade 12 is the handle member constituted of the weight arm 29 and the power arm 30. Known means, such as the bolts 31, 32 (Figs. 1 and 2) may be used to fasten the weight arm 29 to the aforementioned portion of the knife blade.

In rearwardly spaced arrangement with the top of the upstanding surface portion 18, the handle members 25, 26 are pivotally secured together by any suitable pivot means 33 which is inserted through a cup-like protrusion 34 on the handle member 25 and a similar protrusion on the handle member 26 which form a housing for a spring 36, concentric with the pivot means 33, and one end 37 (Fig. 1) of which is anchored in the power arm of the handle member 25 while the opposite end 38 is anchored in the power arm 28 of the handle member 26.

To prevent the cutting edge 22 from coming in contact with the upstanding surface portion 17 when the power arms 28, 30 are drawn together, the outer edge of each power arm, 39 in the case of the power arm 28 and 40 in the case of the power arm 39 are turned in opposite directions so that when closed for removing a button, the edge 41 of the power arm 38 will be stopped against the inner surface of the turned edge 39 of the power arm 28 and the edge 42 will be stopped against the turned edge 40 of the power arm 30. v

To prevent the knife blade 12 from being moved off the guard 11 by the spring 36, an upwardly directed protuberance 43 in the handle member 26 is provided to contact the arm 25 in the position shown in Figure 1.

In Operation The guard 11 (Fig. 1) is inserted between a garment 44 and a button 45 with the thread securing the button to the garment in the slot 19. The upstanding surface I3 portions 17, 13 form two sides of a receptacle for holding the removed buttons. The knife blade 12 also may aid in preventing the buttons from falling out of the receptacle dependent upon the position of the guard.

It is to be understood that the invention is in no way limited to any particular form of construction but includes all variants, improvements of details and uses of equivalent means without, for these reasons, exceeding its scope.

What is claimed is:

1. A device. for removing buttons from a garment, the device comprising a guard for the garment, the guard being substantially in the form of a segment of a circle bounded by two radially directed lines and outer and inner arcuate lines, said guard having formed therein a slot inwardly directed from the outer arcuate line and further having a portion turned upwardly along one of the radially directed lines and the inner arcuate line, a handle member .disposed on the upwardly turned portions and rearwardly directed therefrom, a knife blade slidably disposed on the guard on the side of the upwardly turned portions and coacting with the slot, the inner end of said knife blade being turned upwardly substantially to the top of the upwardly turned portions of said guard, a second handle member disposed on the upwardly turned end of said knife edge and rearwardly directed therefrom, and means for pivotally securing said handle members together.

2. A device for removing buttons from a garment, the device comprising a guard for the garment, the guard being substantially in the form of a segment of a circle formed by two radially directed lines and outer and inner arcuate lines, the segment being turned upwardly along one radially directed line and the inner arcuate line and further having a slot formed therein inwardly directed from the outer arcuate line toward the portion turned upwardly along one of the radially directed lines, the slot further being of greater width adjacent the outer arcuate line than at the inner end extremity, a handle member rearwardly directed from at least one of the upwardly turned portions, a knife blade slidable on the guard on the side of the'upwardly turned portions and coacting with the slot, the inner end of the knife blade being turned upwardly substantially to the tops of the upwardly turned portions, a second handle member disposed on the upwardly turned inner end of said knife blade and extending rearwardly therefrom, means for pivotally securing together said first and second mentioned handle members intermediate the ends thereof, spring tension means in operable engagement with said handle members and normally maintaining said knife blade on the side of the slot opposite to the upwardly turned portion along one of the radially directed lines, and coacting stop means on said handle members for limiting the pivotal movement thereof.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 280,510 Phipps July 3, 1883 496,407 Goldman May 2, 1893 601,943 Burke Apr. 5, 1898 1 974,118 Burke Nov. 1, 1910 1,125,366 Meitz Jan. 19, 1915 2,664,629 Pawelczak Jan 5, 1954 

